Wheeling residents still concerned over proposed bank in Edgwood

Residents of Wheeling’s 5th Ward continue to voice their concerns over the proposed bank in Edgwood.

They came together Wednesday night to discuss this issue with local leaders at Christ United Methodist Church. The purpose of this event was to inform the public about the proposal, while allowing them to ask questions and make comments.

The proposed bank would be located on the corner of National Road and Laurel Avenue. For several weeks, citizens have been speaking out against this possibility, citing that it would increase traffic in the Edgwood area. That stretch of National Road consists of just two lanes, unlike the area in front of the Chase Bank down the street, which has four lanes.

In order to establish greater transparency, a meeting was held at Christ United Methodist Church to allow bank representatives the chance to inform the public of their plans.

“It’s important to the community to hear, I think, from the bank and its representatives what we’re about to do,” said attorney David Croft, who represents the financial institution. “We’ve brought down a representative from the design bill from P.W. Campbell to address specific questions. Later on in the process, if we go further on, we’ll bring the traffic engineer in to really have a professional look at the configuration to create the least amount of impact on that community with any traffic that would come through this institution.”

The bank stated that they don’t believe traffic would increase by much and that they would help secure the neighborhood by putting 24-hour surveillance cameras on the building.

Those in attendance were able to ask their own questions and make comments to bank representatives and members of the Wheeling City Council. After the question and answer session, 5th Ward residents met privately to discuss what they had heard in the meeting.

“To get people that care about the community, that are interested, to band together whether it’s for a project or against a project,” said 5th Ward Councilman Ty Thorngate. “It’s a great experiment that we call democracy and government and tonight that’s what it’s all about.”

If the project goes through, the former Edgwood Lutheran Church and 2 Laurel Avenue would be demolished to make way for the bank.

We will continue to keep you updated on this entire process both on-air and on our website.

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